Simulation of Tidal Oscillations in the Pará River Estuary Using the MOHID-Land Hydrological Model

Recent studies have incorporated tidal elevation into hydrological models, yet they have not focused on simulating or evaluating tidal processes within these frameworks. Integrating tidal dynamics improves the representation of terrestrial–coastal interactions, including groundwater fluctuations, vegetation dynamics, and sediment transport. This study evaluates the capability of MOHID-Land, a physically based hydrological model, to simulate macro-tidal conditions in an Amazonian estuary. MOHID-Land enables tidal simulation by incorporating water-level time series as boundary conditions. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to (i) evaluate two global tidal models as boundary conditions; (ii) verify the impact of hydrological processes on water levels; and (iii) assess the effect of different bathymetries on water dynamics. The model effectively simulated tidal oscillations with good accuracy across eight tidal stations, although the inner stations required improved bathymetry. The Reference, Atmosphere, Porous Media and Vegetation (AtPmVg), and Finite Element Solution (FES) version 2014 (FES2014) simulations yielded similar water levels and goodness-of-fit metrics. While MOHID-Land is robust, and water level modeling is insensitive to meteorological, soil, or vegetation parameters, the model is highly sensitive to bathymetry. This study enhances the understanding of the applicability of hydrological models in terrestrial–coastal modeling.